Gracious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gracious \Gra"cious\ (gr[=a]"sh[u^]s), a. [F. gracieux, L.
     gratiosus. See {Grace}.]
     1. Abounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love, or
        bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent;
        merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor;
        condescending; as, his most gracious majesty.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. --Neh.
                                                    ix. 17.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So hallowed and so gracious in the time. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Abounding in beauty, loveliness, or amiability; graceful;
        excellent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Since the birth of Cain, the first male child, . . .
              There was not such a gracious creature born. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Produced by divine grace; influenced or controlled by the
        divine influence; as, gracious affections.
  
     Syn: Favorable; kind; benevolent; friendly; beneficent;
          benignant; merciful.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  gracious
       adj 1: characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of
              spirit; "gracious even to unexpected visitors";
              "gracious living"; "he bears insult with gracious good
              humor" [ant: {ungracious}]
       2: doing or producing good [syn: {beneficent}, {benevolent}]
       3: characterized by kindness and warm courtesy especially of a
          king to his subjects; "our benignant king" [syn: {benignant}]
       4: exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture" [syn: {courteous},
           {nice}]
       5: disposed to bestow favors; "thanks to the gracious gods"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  172 Moby Thesaurus words for "gracious":
     Bohemian, Christian, Christlike, Christly, accommodating, affable,
     affectionate, agreeable, amiable, amicable, approachable,
     attentive, beneficent, benevolent, benign, benignant, bighearted,
     blissful, bonhomous, bounteous, bountiful, brotherly, casual,
     cheerful, chivalrous, civil, civilized, clubby, compassionate,
     compatible, complaisant, compliant, congenial, considerate,
     cordial, courteous, courtly, cultivated, cultured, dainty, decent,
     deferential, degage, delicate, desirable, discriminating,
     easygoing, elegant, en rapport, enjoyable, fair, fair and pleasant,
     familiar, fastidious, felicific, felicitous, fine, folksy,
     forthcoming, fraternal, free, free and easy, freehanded,
     freehearted, friendly, gallant, generous, genial, giving, good,
     good-natured, goodly, graceful, gracile, grateful, gratifying,
     greathearted, handsome, harmonious, haymish, heart-warming, hearty,
     homely, homey, honeyed, hospitable, human, humane, indulgent,
     informal, irregular, kind, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed,
     large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, likable, loose, loving,
     magnanimous, mannered, mellifluous, mellow, munificent, natural,
     neighborly, nice, obliging, offhand, offhanded, oh, open,
     openhanded, openhearted, outgoing, overindulgent, overpermissive,
     permissive, plain, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable,
     pleasure-giving, pleasureful, polished, polite, princely, profuse,
     receptive, refined, relaxed, respectful, rewarding, satisfying,
     simple, sociable, softhearted, solicitous, sophisticated, starchy,
     stately, stintless, subtle, sweet, sympathetic, sympathizing,
     tactful, tender, tenderhearted, thoughtful, unaffected, unassuming,
     unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, ungrudging,
     unofficial, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, unstudied,
     urbane, warm, warm-hearted, warmhearted, welcome, welcoming,
     well-mannered